Meeting with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko

Belarus President
Alexander Lukashenko met with Ukrainian statesman and political figure, former
president of Ukraine (2005-2010) Viktor Yushchenko in Minsk on 8 October.

“There are many issues that I
am ready to discuss with you, including the position of Ukraine in the CIS.
Ukraine has announced its withdrawal from the CIS. It has not been officially done
yet, however. At the recent Dushanbe summit the Ukrainian flag was present as
always. I understand that this is not a one-day process. Probably, for Ukraine
it is also disadvantageous to break all ties with our states separately and the
CIS in general. You know my point of view. I have always said that it is easier
to withdraw than to join the union again. This is, however, Ukraine’s sovereign
right and we have to respect it,” the Belarusian leader said.

“You know my stance on the
events in Ukraine. We do not want to interfere with Ukraine’s affairs. It is
not our business at all. We, however, will talk about it as the events that are
taking place in Ukraine influence us a lot. Especially it pertains to the
inflow of weapons through the Ukrainian border. We have seized a lot of weapons
lately,” said the head of state.

In his words, there have been
cases when weapons from Ukraine made their way to Belarus through Russia. “We
have recorded such facts when investigating criminal cases. I spoke with the Russian
president about it. This matter worries us a lot,” the President of Belarus
said.

“But it could have been much
worse. And if we speak frankly, there is no such animosity against Belarusians
on the part of Ukrainians. There is no clash of people's opinions and peoples.
This is the most important thing. This is encouraging. This is the basis of our
good relations. There are a lot of problems, and I am willing to discuss these
problems,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

Speaking of bilateral
relations between Belarus and Ukraine, the head of state recalled about Viktor
Yushchenko’s presidency. “When one compares those years with the current times.
I am not talking about Ukraine and Belarus only. I mean our relations in the
post-Soviet space. Of course, it was not the worst of times, especially between
our states. With all differences in points of view we would always find
consensus and would build our relationship. Not only us. No matter how hard it
could be, we would find common ground with the Russian Federation, mutually
acceptable solutions with other states. Many things happened but we would
always reach a positive result. The trade turnover rose rapidly back then. The
trade is not bad today either, growing by 20-30%. By the way, it is even higher
in the CIS. The trade has been on the rise for the second year in a row after a
serious setback. But today we have solid growth in the Eurasian Economic Union
and in the CIS as a whole. We see the same things happening in Ukraine,” the
head of state noted.

According to Viktor
Yushchenko, bilateral relations with Belarus have always been ideal both at the
political and people’s levels. “We have always found mutual understanding in
the most complicated matters. What is happening today in Ukraine and not only there
is a big test and a huge problem for us as a nation, the country, our
neighbors, and Europe,” the former president of Ukraine said.

In his words, on the one hand,
people in Ukraine have become more consolidated than they were some 5-10 years
ago.

On the other hand, the
territorial issue is very complicated, Viktor Yushchenko said stressing that
there is no simple one-component solution. “Clearly, the matter is about a
long-term process,” said the former president.

He noted that amid all these
events the political life in Ukraine is also turbulent because many parties use
this situation for their political ends. Viktor Yushchenko expressed the view
that for this reason, the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine may see the
largest number of candidates in the country's history. He noted that the
charged political debate is often not good for the situation and its
stabilization but this helps shape the national identity of the Ukrainian
people.